FCC Has Implemented the Lifeline National Verifier but Should Improve Consumer Awareness and Experience

As of June 2020, the Federal Communications Commission required consumers nationwide to use the Lifeline National Verifier (Verifier), a centralized process and data system, to check their eligibility for Lifeline, the FCC program that provides discounts on phone and internet service for low-income Americans. The FCC created the Verifier with the stated goals of reducing fraud and costs and improving the consumer experience. But the FCC hasn't made people aware of the Verifier, or provided information tribal governments need to help people use it. Also, the FCC's document submission process is challenging, leading some eligible applicants to give up. GAO found that more than two-thirds of applicants who underwent manual review between June 2018 and June 2020 did not complete their applications. 

GAO was asked to review FCC's implementation of the Verifier. GAO recommends that the Chairman of the FCC should:

1. development and implement a plan to educate eligible consumers about the Lifeline program and Verifier requirements that align with key practices for consumer education planning.
2. provide tribal organizations with targeted information and tools, such as access to the Verifier, that equip them to assist residents of tribal lands with their Verifier applications.
3. identify and use performance measures to track the Verifier's progress in delivering value to consumers.
4. ensure that it has quality information on consumers' experience with the Verifier's manual review process, and should use that information to improve the consumer experience to meet the Verifier's goals.
5. ensure that the Verifier's online application and support website align with characteristics for leading federal website design, including that they are accurate, clear, understandable, easy to use, and contain a mechanism for users to provide feedback.
6. convert the Verifier's online application, checklifeline.org, to a ".gov" domain